Elbert Huang,MD to direct new DOM Center for Translational and Policy Research of Chronic Diseases
January 12, 2012
Elbert Huang, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine (Section of General Medicine) will direct the new Center for Translational and Policy Research of Chronic Diseases. The Center’s overall vision is to build a self-sustaining center of excellence for the study of chronic diseases at the University of Chicago. The center will attempt to tackle the most fundamental research questions facing developed countries that have growing populations with multiple chronic diseases such as diabetes. An underlying belief behind the formation of this center is that that health care policies for chronic diseases need to be rooted in a fundamental understanding of the modern natural history of chronic diseases and their treatments. The center will have a unique range of research that includes the development of innovations for preventing and treating chronic diseases, evaluations of the economic and policy implications of those innovations, and linkages of these findings to the study of broader health care policies. The purpose of this research is to not only directly improve the care and health of the individual patient we see in clinic through care innovations, but to influence the policies that affect the financing and organization of care that ultimately determine whether innovations can be adopted.
Dr. Huang is an accomplished health services researcher and health economist who combines his expertise in these areas with the very practical experience of caring for a medically underserved population on Chicago's South Side. He recently served as Senior Advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the Department of Health and Human Services. In this role, Dr. Huang assisted in all aspects of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and provided advice and analytical support to the Deputy Assistant Secretary on health policy issues and initiatives.